The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

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"If I come down among you----" (General chorus of "Come, love, come!"which interrupted the proceedings for some moments, while thechairman, standing up and waving both his arms, seemed to beconducting the music. The Professor, with his face flushed,his nostrils dilated, and his beard bristling, was now in aproper Berserk mood.) "Every great discoverer has been met withthe same incredulity--the sure brand of a generation of fools. When great facts are laid before you, you have not the intuition,the imagination which would help you to understand them. You canonly throw mud at the men who have risked their lives to open newfields to science. You persecute the prophets! Galileo! Darwin,and I----" (Prolonged cheering and complete interruption.)

All this is from my hurried notes taken at the time, which givelittle notion of the absolute chaos to which the assembly had bythis time been reduced. So terrific was the uproar that severalladies had already beaten a hurried retreat. Grave and reverendseniors seemed to have caught the prevailing spirit as badly asthe students, and I saw white-bearded men rising and shakingtheir fists at the obdurate Professor. The whole great audienceseethed and simmered like a boiling pot. The Professor took astep forward and raised both his hands. There was something sobig and arresting and virile in the man that the clatter andshouting died gradually away before his commanding gesture andhis masterful eyes. He seemed to have a definite message. They hushed to hear it.

"I will not detain you," he said. "It is not worth it. Truth istruth, and the noise of a number of foolish young men--and, Ifear I must add, of their equally foolish seniors--cannot affectthe matter. I claim that I have opened a new field of science. You dispute it." (Cheers.) "Then I put you to the test. Will youaccredit one or more of your own number to go out as yourrepresentatives and test my statement in your name?"

Mr. Summerlee, the veteran Professor of Comparative Anatomy, roseamong the audience, a tall, thin, bitter man, with the witheredaspect of a theologian. He wished, he said, to ask ProfessorChallenger whether the results to which he had alluded in hisremarks had been obtained during a journey to the headwaters ofthe Amazon made by him two years before.

Professor Challenger answered that they had.

Mr. Summerlee desired to know how it was that ProfessorChallenger claimed to have made discoveries in those regionswhich had been overlooked by Wallace, Bates, and other previousexplorers of established scientific repute.

Professor Challenger answered that Mr. Summerlee appeared to beconfusing the Amazon with the Thames; that it was in reality asomewhat larger river; that Mr. Summerlee might be interested toknow that with the Orinoco, which communicated with it, somefifty thousand miles of country were opened up, and that in sovast a space it was not impossible for one person to find whatanother had missed.

Mr. Summerlee declared, with an acid smile, that he fullyappreciated the difference between the Thames and the Amazon,which lay in the fact that any assertion about the former could betested, while about the latter it could not. He would be obligedif Professor Challenger would give the latitude and the longitudeof the country in which prehistoric animals were to be found.

Professor Challenger replied that he reserved such informationfor good reasons of his own, but would be prepared to give itwith proper precautions to a committee chosen from the audience. Would Mr. Summerlee serve on such a committee and test his storyin person?

Mr. Summerlee: "Yes, I will." (Great cheering.)

Professor Challenger: "Then I guarantee that I will place inyour hands such material as will enable you to find your way. It is only right, however, since Mr. Summerlee goes to check mystatement that I should have one or more with him who may check his. I will not disguise from you that there are difficulties and dangers. Mr. Summerlee will need a younger colleague. May I ask for volunteers?"

It is thus that the great crisis of a man's life springs out at him. Could I have imagined when I entered that hall that I was about topledge myself to a wilder adventure than had ever come to me inmy dreams? But Gladys--was it not the very opportunity of whichshe spoke? Gladys would have told me to go. I had sprung to my feet. I was speaking, and yet I had prepared no words. Tarp Henry, mycompanion, was plucking at my skirts and I heard him whispering,"Sit down, Malone! Don't make a public ass of yourself." At thesame time I was aware that a tall, thin man, with dark gingery hair,a few seats in front of me, was also upon his feet. He glared backat me with hard angry eyes, but I refused to give way.

"I will go, Mr. Chairman," I kept repeating over and over again.

"Name! Name!" cried the audience.

"My name is Edward Dunn Malone. I am the reporter of the DailyGazette. I claim to be an absolutely unprejudiced witness."

"What is YOUR name, sir?" the chairman asked of my tall rival.

"I am Lord John Roxton. I have already been up the Amazon,I know all the ground, and have special qualifications forthis investigation."

"Lord John Roxton's reputation as a sportsman and a traveler is,of course, world-famous," said the chairman; "at the same time itwould certainly be as well to have a member of the Press uponsuch an expedition."

"Then I move," said Professor Challenger, "that both thesegentlemen be elected, as representatives of this meeting, toaccompany Professor Summerlee upon his journey to investigate andto report upon the truth of my statements."

And so, amid shouting and cheering, our fate was decided, and Ifound myself borne away in the human current which swirledtowards the door, with my mind half stunned by the vast newproject which had risen so suddenly before it. As I emerged fromthe hall I was conscious for a moment of a rush of laughingstudents--down the pavement, and of an arm wielding a heavyumbrella, which rose and fell in the midst of them. Then, amid amixture of groans and cheers, Professor Challenger's electricbrougham slid from the curb, and I found myself walking under thesilvery lights of Regent Street, full of thoughts of Gladys andof wonder as to my future.

Suddenly there was a touch at my elbow. I turned, and foundmyself looking into the humorous, masterful eyes of the tall, thinman who had volunteered to be my companion on this strange quest.

"Mr. Malone, I understand," said he. "We are to becompanions--what? My rooms are just over the road, in the Albany. Perhaps you would have the kindness to spare me half an hour, forthere are one or two things that I badly want to say to you."

CHAPTER VI

"I was the Flail of the Lord"

Lord John Roxton and I turned down Vigo Street together andthrough the dingy portals of the famous aristocratic rookery. At the end of a long drab passage my new acquaintance pushed opena door and turned on an electric switch. A number of lamps shiningthrough tinted shades bathed the whole great room before us in aruddy radiance. Standing in the doorway and glancing round me, Ihad a general impression of extraordinary comfort and elegancecombined with an atmosphere of masculine virility. Everywhere therewere mingled the luxury of the wealthy man of taste and thecareless untidiness of the bachelor. Rich furs and strangeiridescent mats from some Oriental bazaar were scattered uponthe floor. Pictures and prints which even my unpractised eyescould recognize as being of great price and rarity hung thick uponthe walls. Sketches of boxers, of ballet-girls, and of racehorsesalternated with a sensuous Fragonard, a martial Girardet, and adreamy Turner. But amid these varied ornaments there werescattered the trophies which brought back strongly to myrecollection the fact that Lord John Roxton was one of the greatall-round sportsmen and athletes of his day. A dark-blue oarcrossed with a cherry-pink one above his mantel-piece spoke ofthe old Oxonian and Leander man, while the foils andboxing-gloves above and below them were the tools of a man whohad won supremacy with each. Like a dado round the room was thejutting line of splendid heavy game-heads, the best of their sortfrom every quarter of the world, with the rare white rhinocerosof the Lado Enclave drooping its supercilious lip above them all.

In the center of the rich red carpet was a black and gold LouisQuinze table, a lovely antique, now sacrilegiously desecratedwith marks of glasses and the scars of cigar-stumps. On it stooda silver tray of smokables and a burnished spirit-stand, fromwhich and an adjacent siphon my silent host proceeded to chargetwo high glasses. Having indicated an arm-chair to me and placedmy refreshment near it, he handed me a long, smooth Havana. Then, seating himself opposite to me, he looked at me long andfixedly with his strange, twinkling, reckless eyes--eyes of acold light blue, the color of a glacier lake.

Through the thin haze of my cigar-smoke I noted the details of aface which was already familiar to me from many photographs--thestrongly-curved nose, the hollow, worn cheeks, the dark, ruddyhair, thin at the top, the crisp, virile moustaches, the small,aggressive tuft upon his projecting chin. Something there was ofNapoleon III., something of Don Quixote, and yet again somethingwhich was the essence of the English country gentleman, the keen,alert, open-air lover of dogs and of horses. His skin was of arich flower-pot red from sun and wind. His eyebrows were tuftedand overhanging, which gave those naturally cold eyes an almostferocious aspect, an impression which was increased by his strongand furrowed brow. In figure he was spare, but very stronglybuilt--indeed, he had often proved that there were few men inEngland capable of such sustained exertions. His height was alittle over six feet, but he seemed shorter on account of apeculiar rounding of the shoulders. Such was the famous LordJohn Roxton as he sat opposite to me, biting hard upon his cigarand watching me steadily in a long and embarrassing silence.

"Well," said he, at last, "we've gone and done it, young fellahmy lad." (This curious phrase he pronounced as if it were all oneword--"young-fellah-me-lad.") "Yes, we've taken a jump, you an' me. I suppose, now, when you went into that room there was no suchnotion in your head--what?"

"No thought of it."

"The same here. No thought of it. And here we are, up to ournecks in the tureen. Why, I've only been back three weeks fromUganda, and taken a place in Scotland, and signed the lease and all. Pretty goin's on--what? How does it hit you?"

"Well, it is all in the main line of my business. I am ajournalist on the Gazette."

"Of course--you said so when you took it on. By the way, I'vegot a small job for you, if you'll help me."

"With pleasure."

"Don't mind takin' a risk, do you?"

"What is the risk?"

"Well, it's Ballinger--he's the risk. You've heard of him?"

"No."

"Why, young fellah, where HAVE you lived? Sir John Ballingeris the best gentleman jock in the north country. I could holdhim on the flat at my best, but over jumps he's my master. Well, it's an open secret that when he's out of trainin' he drinkshard--strikin' an average, he calls it. He got delirium onToosday, and has been ragin' like a devil ever since. His roomis above this. The doctors say that it is all up with the olddear unless some food is got into him, but as he lies in bed witha revolver on his coverlet, and swears he will put six of thebest through anyone that comes near him, there's been a bit of astrike among the serving-men. He's a hard nail, is Jack, and adead shot, too, but you can't leave a Grand National winner todie like that--what?"

"What do you mean to do, then?" I asked.

"Well, my idea was that you and I could rush him. He may bedozin', and at the worst he can only wing one of us, and theother should have him. If we can get his bolster-cover round hisarms and then 'phone up a stomach-pump, we'll give the old dearthe supper of his life."

It was a rather desperate business to come suddenly into one'sday's work. I don't think that I am a particularly brave man. I have an Irish imagination which makes the unknown and the untriedmore terrible than they are. On the other hand, I was brought upwith a horror of cowardice and with a terror of such a stigma. I dare say that I could throw myself over a precipice, like the Hunin the history books, if my courage to do it were questioned, andyet it would surely be pride and fear, rather than courage, whichwould be my inspiration. Therefore, although every nerve in mybody shrank from the whisky-maddened figure which I pictured inthe room above, I still answered, in as careless a voice as Icould command, that I was ready to go. Some further remark ofLord Roxton's about the danger only made me irritable.

"Talking won't make it any better," said I. "Come on."

I rose from my chair and he from his. Then with a littleconfidential chuckle of laughter, he patted me two or three timeson the chest, finally pushing me back into my chair.

"I saw after Jack Ballinger myself this mornin'. He blew a holein the skirt of my kimono, bless his shaky old hand, but we got ajacket on him, and he's to be all right in a week. I say, youngfellah, I hope you don't mind--what? You see, between you an' meclose-tiled, I look on this South American business as a mightyserious thing, and if I have a pal with me I want a man I canbank on. So I sized you down, and I'm bound to say that you camewell out of it. You see, it's all up to you and me, for this oldSummerlee man will want dry-nursin' from the first. By the way,are you by any chance the Malone who is expected to get his Rugbycap for Ireland?"

"A reserve, perhaps."

"I thought I remembered your face. Why, I was there when you gotthat try against Richmond--as fine a swervin' run as I saw thewhole season. I never miss a Rugby match if I can help it, forit is the manliest game we have left. Well, I didn't ask you inhere just to talk sport. We've got to fix our business. Here arethe sailin's, on the first page of the Times. There's a Booth boatfor Para next Wednesday week, and if the Professor and you can workit, I think we should take it--what? Very good, I'll fix it with him. What about your outfit?"

"My paper will see to that."

"Can you shoot?"

"About average Territorial standard."

"Good Lord! as bad as that? It's the last thing you young fellahsthink of learnin'. You're all bees without stings, so far aslookin' after the hive goes. You'll look silly, some o' thesedays, when someone comes along an' sneaks the honey. But you'llneed to hold your gun straight in South America, for, unless ourfriend the Professor is a madman or a liar, we may see some queerthings before we get back. What gun have you?"

He crossed to an oaken cupboard, and as he threw it open I caughta glimpse of glistening rows of parallel barrels, like the pipesof an organ.

"I'll see what I can spare you out of my own battery," said he.

One by one he took out a succession of beautiful rifles, openingand shutting them with a snap and a clang, and then patting themas he put them back into the rack as tenderly as a mother wouldfondle her children.

"This is a Bland's .577 axite express," said he. "I got that bigfellow with it." He glanced up at the white rhinoceros. "Ten moreyards, and he'd would have added me to HIS collection.

Hope you know your Gordon, for he's the poet of the horse andthe gun and the man that handles both. Now, here's a usefultool--.470, telescopic sight, double ejector, point-blank up tothree-fifty. That's the rifle I used against the Peruvianslave-drivers three years ago. I was the flail of the Lord up inthose parts, I may tell you, though you won't find it in anyBlue-book. There are times, young fellah, when every one of usmust make a stand for human right and justice, or you never feelclean again. That's why I made a little war on my own. Declared itmyself, waged it myself, ended it myself. Each of those nicksis for a slave murderer--a good row of them--what? That big oneis for Pedro Lopez, the king of them all, that I killed in abackwater of the Putomayo River. Now, here's something thatwould do for you." He took out a beautiful brown-and-silver rifle. "Well rubbered at the stock, sharply sighted, five cartridges tothe clip. You can trust your life to that." He handed it to meand closed the door of his oak cabinet.

"By the way," he continued, coming back to his chair, "what doyou know of this Professor Challenger?"

"I never saw him till to-day."

"Well, neither did I. It's funny we should both sail under sealedorders from a man we don't know. He seemed an uppish old bird. His brothers of science don't seem too fond of him, either. How came you to take an interest in the affair?"

I told him shortly my experiences of the morning, and helistened intently. Then he drew out a map of South Americaand laid it on the table.

"I believe every single word he said to you was the truth," saidhe, earnestly, "and, mind you, I have something to go on when Ispeak like that. South America is a place I love, and I think,if you take it right through from Darien to Fuego, it's thegrandest, richest, most wonderful bit of earth upon this planet. People don't know it yet, and don't realize what it may become. I've been up an' down it from end to end, and had two dryseasons in those very parts, as I told you when I spoke of thewar I made on the slave-dealers. Well, when I was up there Iheard some yarns of the same kind--traditions of Indians and thelike, but with somethin' behind them, no doubt. The more youknew of that country, young fellah, the more you would understandthat anythin' was possible--ANYTHIN'1. There are just some narrowwater-lanes along which folk travel, and outside that it isall darkness. Now, down here in the Matto Grande"--he swept hiscigar over a part of the map--"or up in this corner where threecountries meet, nothin' would surprise me. As that chap saidto-night, there are fifty-thousand miles of water-way runnin'through a forest that is very near the size of Europe. You andI could be as far away from each other as Scotland is fromConstantinople, and yet each of us be in the same great Brazilian forest. Man has just made a track here and a scrape there in the maze. Why, the river rises and falls the best part of forty feet,and half the country is a morass that you can't pass over. Why shouldn't somethin' new and wonderful lie in such a country? And why shouldn't we be the men to find it out? Besides," headded, his queer, gaunt face shining with delight, "there's asportin' risk in every mile of it. I'm like an old golf-ball--I've had all the white paint knocked off me long ago. Life can whack me about now, and it can't leave a mark. But asportin' risk, young fellah, that's the salt of existence. Then it's worth livin' again. We're all gettin' a deal too softand dull and comfy. Give me the great waste lands and the widespaces, with a gun in my fist and somethin' to look for that'sworth findin'. I've tried war and steeplechasin' and aeroplanes,but this huntin' of beasts that look like a lobster-supper dreamis a brand-new sensation." He chuckled with glee at the prospect.

Perhaps I have dwelt too long upon this new acquaintance, but heis to be my comrade for many a day, and so I have tried to sethim down as I first saw him, with his quaint personality and hisqueer little tricks of speech and of thought. It was only theneed of getting in the account of my meeting which drew me atlast from his company. I left him seated amid his pink radiance,oiling the lock of his favorite rifle, while he still chuckled tohimself at the thought of the adventures which awaited us. It wasvery clear to me that if dangers lay before us I could not in allEngland have found a cooler head or a braver spirit with which toshare them.

That night, wearied as I was after the wonderful happenings ofthe day, I sat late with McArdle, the news editor, explaining tohim the whole situation, which he thought important enough tobring next morning before the notice of Sir George Beaumont,the chief. It was agreed that I should write home full accountsof my adventures in the shape of successive letters to McArdle,and that these should either be edited for the Gazette as theyarrived, or held back to be published later, according to thewishes of Professor Challenger, since we could not yet know whatconditions he might attach to those directions which should guideus to the unknown land. In response to a telephone inquiry, wereceived nothing more definite than a fulmination against thePress, ending up with the remark that if we would notify our boathe would hand us any directions which he might think it proper togive us at the moment of starting. A second question from usfailed to elicit any answer at all, save a plaintive bleat fromhis wife to the effect that her husband was in a very violenttemper already, and that she hoped we would do nothing to makeit worse. A third attempt, later in the day, provoked a terrificcrash, and a subsequent message from the Central Exchange thatProfessor Challenger's receiver had been shattered. After thatwe abandoned all attempt at communication.

And now my patient readers, I can address you directly no longer. From now onwards (if, indeed, any continuation of this narrativeshould ever reach you) it can only be through the paper whichI represent. In the hands of the editor I leave this accountof the events which have led up to one of the most remarkableexpeditions of all time, so that if I never return to Englandthere shall be some record as to how the affair came about. I amwriting these last lines in the saloon of the Booth linerFrancisca, and they will go back by the pilot to the keeping ofMr. McArdle. Let me draw one last picture before I close thenotebook--a picture which is the last memory of the old countrywhich I bear away with me. It is a wet, foggy morning in the latespring; a thin, cold rain is falling. Three shining mackintoshedfigures are walking down the quay, making for the gang-plank ofthe great liner from which the blue-peter is flying. In front ofthem a porter pushes a trolley piled high with trunks, wraps,and gun-cases. Professor Summerlee, a long, melancholy figure,walks with dragging steps and drooping head, as one who is alreadyprofoundly sorry for himself. Lord John Roxton steps briskly,and his thin, eager face beams forth between his hunting-cap andhis muffler. As for myself, I am glad to have got the bustlingdays of preparation and the pangs of leave-taking behind me, andI have no doubt that I show it in my bearing. Suddenly, just aswe reach the vessel, there is a shout behind us. It is ProfessorChallenger, who had promised to see us off. He runs after us, apuffing, red-faced, irascible figure.

"No thank you," says he; "I should much prefer not to go aboard. I have only a few words to say to you, and they can very well besaid where we are. I beg you not to imagine that I am in any wayindebted to you for making this journey. I would have you tounderstand that it is a matter of perfect indifference to me, andI refuse to entertain the most remote sense of personal obligation. Truth is truth, and nothing which you can report can affect it inany way, though it may excite the emotions and allay the curiosityof a number of very ineffectual people. My directions for yourinstruction and guidance are in this sealed envelope. You willopen it when you reach a town upon the Amazon which is calledManaos, but not until the date and hour which is marked uponthe outside. Have I made myself clear? I leave the strictobservance of my conditions entirely to your honor. No, Mr. Malone,I will place no restriction upon your correspondence, sincethe ventilation of the facts is the object of your journey; butI demand that you shall give no particulars as to your exactdestination, and that nothing be actually published until your return. Good-bye, sir. You have done something to mitigate my feelingsfor the loathsome profession to which you unhappily belong. Good-bye, Lord John. Science is, as I understand, a sealed bookto you; but you may congratulate yourself upon the hunting-fieldwhich awaits you. You will, no doubt, have the opportunity ofdescribing in the Field how you brought down the rocketing dimorphodon. And good-bye to you also, Professor Summerlee. If you are stillcapable of self-improvement, of which I am frankly unconvinced,you will surely return to London a wiser man."

So he turned upon his heel, and a minute later from the deck Icould see his short, squat figure bobbing about in the distanceas he made his way back to his train. Well, we are well downChannel now. There's the last bell for letters, and it'sgood-bye to the pilot. We'll be "down, hull-down, on the oldtrail" from now on. God bless all we leave behind us, and sendus safely back.

CHAPTER VII

"To-morrow we Disappear into the Unknown"

I will not bore those whom this narrative may reach by an accountof our luxurious voyage upon the Booth liner, nor will I tell ofour week's stay at Para (save that I should wish to acknowledgethe great kindness of the Pereira da Pinta Company in helping usto get together our equipment). I will also allude very brieflyto our river journey, up a wide, slow-moving, clay-tinted stream,in a steamer which was little smaller than that which had carriedus across the Atlantic. Eventually we found ourselves throughthe narrows of Obidos and reached the town of Manaos. Here wewere rescued from the limited attractions of the local inn byMr. Shortman, the representative of the British and BrazilianTrading Company. In his hospital Fazenda we spent our time untilthe day when we were empowered to open the letter of instructionsgiven to us by Professor Challenger. Before I reach the surprisingevents of that date I would desire to give a clearer sketch of mycomrades in this enterprise, and of the associates whom we hadalready gathered together in South America. I speak freely, andI leave the use of my material to your own discretion, Mr.McArdle, since it is through your hands that this report mustpass before it reaches the world.

The scientific attainments of Professor Summerlee are too wellknown for me to trouble to recapitulate them. He is betterequipped for a rough expedition of this sort than one wouldimagine at first sight. His tall, gaunt, stringy figure isinsensible to fatigue, and his dry, half-sarcastic, and oftenwholly unsympathetic manner is uninfluenced by any change inhis surroundings. Though in his sixty-sixth year, I have neverheard him express any dissatisfaction at the occasional hardshipswhich we have had to encounter. I had regarded his presence as anencumbrance to the expedition, but, as a matter of fact, I am nowwell convinced that his power of endurance is as great as my own. In temper he is naturally acid and sceptical. From the beginninghe has never concealed his belief that Professor Challenger isan absolute fraud, that we are all embarked upon an absurdwild-goose chase and that we are likely to reap nothing butdisappointment and danger in South America, and correspondingridicule in England. Such are the views which, with muchpassionate distortion of his thin features and wagging of histhin, goat-like beard, he poured into our ears all the way fromSouthampton to Manaos. Since landing from the boat he hasobtained some consolation from the beauty and variety of theinsect and bird life around him, for he is absolutelywhole-hearted in his devotion to science. He spends his daysflitting through the woods with his shot-gun and hisbutterfly-net, and his evenings in mounting the many specimenshe has acquired. Among his minor peculiarities are that he iscareless as to his attire, unclean in his person, exceedinglyabsent-minded in his habits, and addicted to smoking a shortbriar pipe, which is seldom out of his mouth. He has been uponseveral scientific expeditions in his youth (he was withRobertson in Papua), and the life of the camp and the canoe isnothing fresh to him.

Lord John Roxton has some points in common with ProfessorSummerlee, and others in which they are the very antithesis toeach other. He is twenty years younger, but has something of thesame spare, scraggy physique. As to his appearance, I have, as Irecollect, described it in that portion of my narrative which Ihave left behind me in London. He is exceedingly neat and primin his ways, dresses always with great care in white drill suitsand high brown mosquito-boots, and shaves at least once a day. Like most men of action, he is laconic in speech, and sinksreadily into his own thoughts, but he is always quick to answer aquestion or join in a conversation, talking in a queer, jerky,half-humorous fashion. His knowledge of the world, and veryespecially of South America, is surprising, and he has awhole-hearted belief in the possibilities of our journey which isnot to be dashed by the sneers of Professor Summerlee. He has agentle voice and a quiet manner, but behind his twinkling blueeyes there lurks a capacity for furious wrath and implacableresolution, the more dangerous because they are held in leash. He spoke little of his own exploits in Brazil and Peru, but itwas a revelation to me to find the excitement which was caused byhis presence among the riverine natives, who looked upon him astheir champion and protector. The exploits of the Red Chief, asthey called him, had become legends among them, but the realfacts, as far as I could learn them, were amazing enough.

These were that Lord John had found himself some years before inthat no-man's-land which is formed by the half-defined frontiersbetween Peru, Brazil, and Columbia. In this great district thewild rubber tree flourishes, and has become, as in the Congo, acurse to the natives which can only be compared to their forcedlabor under the Spaniards upon the old silver mines of Darien. A handful of villainous half-breeds dominated the country, armedsuch Indians as would support them, and turned the rest intoslaves, terrorizing them with the most inhuman tortures in orderto force them to gather the india-rubber, which was then floateddown the river to Para. Lord John Roxton expostulated on behalfof the wretched victims, and received nothing but threats andinsults for his pains. He then formally declared war againstPedro Lopez, the leader of the slave-drivers, enrolled a band ofrunaway slaves in his service, armed them, and conducted acampaign, which ended by his killing with his own hands thenotorious half-breed and breaking down the system which he represented.

No wonder that the ginger-headed man with the silky voice and thefree and easy manners was now looked upon with deep interest uponthe banks of the great South American river, though the feelingshe inspired were naturally mixed, since the gratitude of thenatives was equaled by the resentment of those who desired toexploit them. One useful result of his former experiences wasthat he could talk fluently in the Lingoa Geral, which is thepeculiar talk, one-third Portuguese and two-thirds Indian, whichis current all over Brazil.

I have said before that Lord John Roxton was a South Americomaniac. He could not speak of that great country without ardor, and thisardor was infectious, for, ignorant as I was, he fixed myattention and stimulated my curiosity. How I wish I couldreproduce the glamour of his discourses, the peculiar mixtureof accurate knowledge and of racy imagination which gave themtheir fascination, until even the Professor's cynical andsceptical smile would gradually vanish from his thin face ashe listened. He would tell the history of the mighty river sorapidly explored (for some of the first conquerors of Peruactually crossed the entire continent upon its waters), and yetso unknown in regard to all that lay behind its ever-changing banks.

"What is there?" he would cry, pointing to the north. "Wood andmarsh and unpenetrated jungle. Who knows what it may shelter? And there to the south? A wilderness of swampy forest, whereno white man has ever been. The unknown is up against us onevery side. Outside the narrow lines of the rivers what doesanyone know? Who will say what is possible in such a country? Why should old man Challenger not be right?" At which directdefiance the stubborn sneer would reappear upon ProfessorSummerlee's face, and he would sit, shaking his sardonic headin unsympathetic silence, behind the cloud of his briar-root pipe.

So much, for the moment, for my two white companions, whosecharacters and limitations will be further exposed, as surely asmy own, as this narrative proceeds. But already we have enrolledcertain retainers who may play no small part in what is to come. The first is a gigantic negro named Zambo, who is a blackHercules, as willing as any horse, and about as intelligent. Him we enlisted at Para, on the recommendation of the steamshipcompany, on whose vessels he had learned to speak a halting English.

It was at Para also that we engaged Gomez and Manuel, twohalf-breeds from up the river, just come down with a cargoof redwood. They were swarthy fellows, bearded and fierce,as active and wiry as panthers. Both of them had spent theirlives in those upper waters of the Amazon which we were aboutto explore, and it was this recommendation which had caused LordJohn to engage them. One of them, Gomez, had the furtheradvantage that he could speak excellent English. These men werewilling to act as our personal servants, to cook, to row, or tomake themselves useful in any way at a payment of fifteen dollarsa month. Besides these, we had engaged three Mojo Indians fromBolivia, who are the most skilful at fishing and boat work of allthe river tribes. The chief of these we called Mojo, after histribe, and the others are known as Jose and Fernando. Three whitemen, then, two half-breeds, one negro, and three Indians made upthe personnel of the little expedition which lay waiting for itsinstructions at Manaos before starting upon its singular quest.

At last, after a weary week, the day had come and the hour. I ask you to picture the shaded sitting-room of the Fazenda St.Ignatio, two miles inland from the town of Manaos. Outside laythe yellow, brassy glare of the sunshine, with the shadows of thepalm trees as black and definite as the trees themselves. The airwas calm, full of the eternal hum of insects, a tropical chorusof many octaves, from the deep drone of the bee to the high,keen pipe of the mosquito. Beyond the veranda was a smallcleared garden, bounded with cactus hedges and adorned withclumps of flowering shrubs, round which the great blue butterfliesand the tiny humming-birds fluttered and darted in crescents ofsparkling light. Within we were seated round the cane table,on which lay a sealed envelope. Inscribed upon it, in the jaggedhandwriting of Professor Challenger, were the words:--

"Instructions to Lord John Roxton and party. To be opened atManaos upon July 15th, at 12 o'clock precisely."

Lord John had placed his watch upon the table beside him.

"We have seven more minutes," said he. "The old dear is very precise."

Professor Summerlee gave an acid smile as he picked up theenvelope in his gaunt hand.

"What can it possibly matter whether we open it now or in sevenminutes?" said he. "It is all part and parcel of the same systemof quackery and nonsense, for which I regret to say that thewriter is notorious."

"Oh, come, we must play the game accordin' to rules," said Lord John. "It's old man Challenger's show and we are here by his good will,so it would be rotten bad form if we didn't follow his instructionsto the letter."

"A pretty business it is!" cried the Professor, bitterly. "It struck me as preposterous in London, but I'm bound to saythat it seems even more so upon closer acquaintance. I don'tknow what is inside this envelope, but, unless it is somethingpretty definite, I shall be much tempted to take the next down-river boat and catch the Bolivia at Para. After all, I havesome more responsible work in the world than to run aboutdisproving the assertions of a lunatic. Now, Roxton, surelyit is time."

"Time it is," said Lord John. "You can blow the whistle." He took up the envelope and cut it with his penknife. From ithe drew a folded sheet of paper. This he carefully opened outand flattened on the table. It was a blank sheet. He turnedit over. Again it was blank. We looked at each other in abewildered silence, which was broken by a discordant burst ofderisive laughter from Professor Summerlee.

"It is an open admission," he cried. "What more do you want? The fellow is a self-confessed humbug. We have only to returnhome and report him as the brazen imposter that he is."

"Invisible ink!" I suggested.

"I don't think!" said Lord Roxton, holding the paper to the light. "No, young fellah my lad, there is no use deceiving yourself. I'll go bail for it that nothing has ever been written uponthis paper."

"May I come in?" boomed a voice from the veranda.

The shadow of a squat figure had stolen across the patch of sunlight. That voice! That monstrous breadth of shoulder! We sprang to ourfeet with a gasp of astonishment as Challenger, in a round, boyishstraw-hat with a colored ribbon--Challenger, with his hands in hisjacket-pockets and his canvas shoes daintily pointing as he walked--appeared in the open space before us. He threw back his head, andthere he stood in the golden glow with all his old Assyrianluxuriance of beard, all his native insolence of drooping eyelidsand intolerant eyes.

"I fear," said he, taking out his watch, "that I am a few minutestoo late. When I gave you this envelope I must confess that Ihad never intended that you should open it, for it had been myfixed intention to be with you before the hour. The unfortunatedelay can be apportioned between a blundering pilot and anintrusive sandbank. I fear that it has given my colleague,Professor Summerlee, occasion to blaspheme."

"I am bound to say, sir," said Lord John, with some sternness ofvoice, "that your turning up is a considerable relief to us, forour mission seemed to have come to a premature end. Even now Ican't for the life of me understand why you should have worked itin so extraordinary a manner."

Instead of answering, Professor Challenger entered, shook handswith myself and Lord John, bowed with ponderous insolence toProfessor Summerlee, and sank back into a basket-chair, whichcreaked and swayed beneath his weight.

"Is all ready for your journey?" he asked.

"We can start to-morrow."

"Then so you shall. You need no chart of directions now, sinceyou will have the inestimable advantage of my own guidance. From the first I had determined that I would myself preside overyour investigation. The most elaborate charts would, as youwill readily admit, be a poor substitute for my own intelligenceand advice. As to the small ruse which I played upon you in thematter of the envelope, it is clear that, had I told you all myintentions, I should have been forced to resist unwelcomepressure to travel out with you."

"Not from me, sir!" exclaimed Professor Summerlee, heartily. "So long as there was another ship upon the Atlantic."

Challenger waved him away with his great hairy hand.

"Your common sense will, I am sure, sustain my objection andrealize that it was better that I should direct my own movementsand appear only at the exact moment when my presence was needed. That moment has now arrived. You are in safe hands. You willnot now fail to reach your destination. From henceforth I takecommand of this expedition, and I must ask you to complete yourpreparations to-night, so that we may be able to make an earlystart in the morning. My time is of value, and the same thingmay be said, no doubt, in a lesser degree of your own. I propose,therefore, that we push on as rapidly as possible, until I havedemonstrated what you have come to see."

Lord John Roxton has chartered a large steam launch, the Esmeralda,which was to carry us up the river. So far as climate goes, itwas immaterial what time we chose for our expedition, as thetemperature ranges from seventy-five to ninety degrees bothsummer and winter, with no appreciable difference in heat. In moisture, however, it is otherwise; from December to May isthe period of the rains, and during this time the river slowlyrises until it attains a height of nearly forty feet above itslow-water mark. It floods the banks, extends in great lagoonsover a monstrous waste of country, and forms a huge district,called locally the Gapo, which is for the most part too marshyfor foot-travel and too shallow for boating. About June thewaters begin to fall, and are at their lowest at Octoberor November. Thus our expedition was at the time of the dryseason, when the great river and its tributaries were more orless in a normal condition.

The current of the river is a slight one, the drop being notgreater than eight inches in a mile. No stream could be moreconvenient for navigation, since the prevailing wind issouth-east, and sailing boats may make a continuous progress tothe Peruvian frontier, dropping down again with the current. In our own case the excellent engines of the Esmeralda coulddisregard the sluggish flow of the stream, and we made as rapidprogress as if we were navigating a stagnant lake. For threedays we steamed north-westwards up a stream which even here, athousand miles from its mouth, was still so enormous that fromits center the two banks were mere shadows upon the distant skyline. On the fourth day after leaving Manaos we turned into a tributarywhich at its mouth was little smaller than the main stream. It narrowed rapidly, however, and after two more days' steamingwe reached an Indian village, where the Professor insisted thatwe should land, and that the Esmeralda should be sent back to Manaos. We should soon come upon rapids, he explained, which would make itsfurther use impossible. He added privately that we were nowapproaching the door of the unknown country, and that the fewerwhom we took into our confidence the better it would be. To thisend also he made each of us give our word of honor that we wouldpublish or say nothing which would give any exact clue as to thewhereabouts of our travels, while the servants were all solemnlysworn to the same effect. It is for this reason that I amcompelled to be vague in my narrative, and I would warn my readersthat in any map or diagram which I may give the relation of placesto each other may be correct, but the points of the compass arecarefully confused, so that in no way can it be taken as an actualguide to the country. Professor Challenger's reasons for secrecymay be valid or not, but we had no choice but to adopt them,for he was prepared to abandon the whole expedition rather thanmodify the conditions upon which he would guide us.

It was August 2nd when we snapped our last link with the outerworld by bidding farewell to the Esmeralda. Since then four dayshave passed, during which we have engaged two large canoes fromthe Indians, made of so light a material (skins over a bambooframework) that we should be able to carry them round any obstacle. These we have loaded with all our effects, and have engaged twoadditional Indians to help us in the navigation. I understandthat they are the very two--Ataca and Ipetu by name--whoaccompanied Professor Challenger upon his previous journey. They appeared to be terrified at the prospect of repeating it,but the chief has patriarchal powers in these countries, andif the bargain is good in his eyes the clansman has littlechoice in the matter.

So to-morrow we disappear into the unknown. This account I amtransmitting down the river by canoe, and it may be our last wordto those who are interested in our fate. I have, according toour arrangement, addressed it to you, my dear Mr. McArdle, and Ileave it to your discretion to delete, alter, or do what you likewith it. From the assurance of Professor Challenger's manner--andin spite of the continued scepticism of Professor Summerlee--Ihave no doubt that our leader will make good his statement, andthat we are really on the eve of some most remarkable experiences.

CHAPTER VIII

"The Outlying Pickets of the New World"

Our friends at home may well rejoice with us, for we are at ourgoal, and up to a point, at least, we have shown that thestatement of Professor Challenger can be verified. We have not,it is true, ascended the plateau, but it lies before us, and evenProfessor Summerlee is in a more chastened mood. Not that hewill for an instant admit that his rival could be right, but heis less persistent in his incessant objections, and has sunk forthe most part into an observant silence. I must hark back,however, and continue my narrative from where I dropped it. We are sending home one of our local Indians who is injured,and I am committing this letter to his charge, with considerabledoubts in my mind as to whether it will ever come to hand.

When I wrote last we were about to leave the Indian village wherewe had been deposited by the Esmeralda. I have to begin myreport by bad news, for the first serious personal trouble(I pass over the incessant bickerings between the Professors)occurred this evening, and might have had a tragic ending. I have spoken of our English-speaking half-breed, Gomez--a fineworker and a willing fellow, but afflicted, I fancy, with thevice of curiosity, which is common enough among such men. On thelast evening he seems to have hid himself near the hut in whichwe were discussing our plans, and, being observed by our hugenegro Zambo, who is as faithful as a dog and has the hatred whichall his race bear to the half-breeds, he was dragged out andcarried into our presence. Gomez whipped out his knife, however,and but for the huge strength of his captor, which enabled him todisarm him with one hand, he would certainly have stabbed him. The matter has ended in reprimands, the opponents have beencompelled to shake hands, and there is every hope that all willbe well. As to the feuds of the two learned men, they arecontinuous and bitter. It must be admitted that Challenger isprovocative in the last degree, but Summerlee has an acid tongue,which makes matters worse. Last night Challenger said that henever cared to walk on the Thames Embankment and look up the river,as it was always sad to see one's own eventual goal. He isconvinced, of course, that he is destined for Westminster Abbey. Summerlee rejoined, however, with a sour smile, by sayingthat he understood that Millbank Prison had been pulled down. Challenger's conceit is too colossal to allow him to bereally annoyed. He only smiled in his beard and repeated"Really! Really!" in the pitying tone one would use to a child. Indeed, they are children both--the one wizened and cantankerous,the other formidable and overbearing, yet each with a brain whichhas put him in the front rank of his scientific age. Brain, character,soul--only as one sees more of life does one understand how distinctis each.

The very next day we did actually make our start upon thisremarkable expedition. We found that all our possessions fittedvery easily into the two canoes, and we divided our personnel,six in each, taking the obvious precaution in the interests ofpeace of putting one Professor into each canoe. Personally, Iwas with Challenger, who was in a beatific humor, moving about asone in a silent ecstasy and beaming benevolence from every feature. I have had some experience of him in other moods, however, andshall be the less surprised when the thunderstorms suddenlycome up amidst the sunshine. If it is impossible to be at yourease, it is equally impossible to be dull in his company, for oneis always in a state of half-tremulous doubt as to what suddenturn his formidable temper may take.

For two days we made our way up a good-sized river some hundredsof yards broad, and dark in color, but transparent, so that onecould usually see the bottom. The affluents of the Amazon are,half of them, of this nature, while the other half are whitishand opaque, the difference depending upon the class of countrythrough which they have flowed. The dark indicate vegetabledecay, while the others point to clayey soil. Twice we cameacross rapids, and in each case made a portage of half a mile orso to avoid them. The woods on either side were primeval, whichare more easily penetrated than woods of the second growth, andwe had no great difficulty in carrying our canoes through them. How shall I ever forget the solemn mystery of it? The height ofthe trees and the thickness of the boles exceeded anything whichI in my town-bred life could have imagined, shooting upwards inmagnificent columns until, at an enormous distance above ourheads, we could dimly discern the spot where they threw out theirside-branches into Gothic upward curves which coalesced to formone great matted roof of verdure, through which only anoccasional golden ray of sunshine shot downwards to trace a thindazzling line of light amidst the majestic obscurity. As wewalked noiselessly amid the thick, soft carpet of decayingvegetation the hush fell upon our souls which comes upon us inthe twilight of the Abbey, and even Professor Challenger'sfull-chested notes sank into a whisper. Alone, I should havebeen ignorant of the names of these giant growths, but our men ofscience pointed out the cedars, the great silk cotton trees, andthe redwood trees, with all that profusion of various plantswhich has made this continent the chief supplier to the humanrace of those gifts of Nature which depend upon the vegetableworld, while it is the most backward in those products which comefrom animal life. Vivid orchids and wonderful colored lichenssmoldered upon the swarthy tree-trunks and where a wanderingshaft of light fell full upon the golden allamanda, the scarletstar-clusters of the tacsonia, or the rich deep blue of ipomaea,the effect was as a dream of fairyland. In these great wastes offorest, life, which abhors darkness, struggles ever upwards tothe light. Every plant, even the smaller ones, curls and writhesto the green surface, twining itself round its stronger andtaller brethren in the effort. Climbing plants are monstrous andluxuriant, but others which have never been known to climbelsewhere learn the art as an escape from that somber shadow, sothat the common nettle, the jasmine, and even the jacitara palmtree can be seen circling the stems of the cedars and striving toreach their crowns. Of animal life there was no movement amidthe majestic vaulted aisles which stretched from us as we walked,but a constant movement far above our heads told of thatmultitudinous world of snake and monkey, bird and sloth, whichlived in the sunshine, and looked down in wonder at our tiny, dark,stumbling figures in the obscure depths immeasurably below them. At dawn and at sunset the howler monkeys screamed together andthe parrakeets broke into shrill chatter, but during the hothours of the day only the full drone of insects, like the beat ofa distant surf, filled the ear, while nothing moved amid thesolemn vistas of stupendous trunks, fading away into the darknesswhich held us in. Once some bandy-legged, lurching creature, anant-eater or a bear, scuttled clumsily amid the shadows. It was theonly sign of earth life which I saw in this great Amazonian forest.

And yet there were indications that even human life itself wasnot far from us in those mysterious recesses. On the third dayout we were aware of a singular deep throbbing in the air,rhythmic and solemn, coming and going fitfully throughoutthe morning. The two boats were paddling within a few yardsof each other when first we heard it, and our Indians remainedmotionless, as if they had been turned to bronze, listeningintently with expressions of terror upon their faces.

"Yes, sir, war drums," said Gomez, the half-breed. "Wild Indians,bravos, not mansos; they watch us every mile of the way; kill usif they can."

"How can they watch us?" I asked, gazing into the dark,motionless void.

The half-breed shrugged his broad shoulders.

"The Indians know. They have their own way. They watch us. They talk the drum talk to each other. Kill us if they can."

By the afternoon of that day--my pocket diary shows me that itwas Tuesday, August 18th--at least six or seven drums werethrobbing from various points. Sometimes they beat quickly,sometimes slowly, sometimes in obvious question and answer, onefar to the east breaking out in a high staccato rattle, and beingfollowed after a pause by a deep roll from the north. There wassomething indescribably nerve-shaking and menacing in thatconstant mutter, which seemed to shape itself into the verysyllables of the half-breed, endlessly repeated, "We will killyou if we can. We will kill you if we can." No one ever moved inthe silent woods. All the peace and soothing of quiet Nature layin that dark curtain of vegetation, but away from behind therecame ever the one message from our fellow-man. "We will kill youif we can," said the men in the east. "We will kill you if wecan," said the men in the north.

All day the drums rumbled and whispered, while their menacereflected itself in the faces of our colored companions. Even thehardy, swaggering half-breed seemed cowed. I learned, however,that day once for all that both Summerlee and Challengerpossessed that highest type of bravery, the bravery of thescientific mind. Theirs was the spirit which upheld Darwin amongthe gauchos of the Argentine or Wallace among the head-huntersof Malaya. It is decreed by a merciful Nature that the human braincannot think of two things simultaneously, so that if it besteeped in curiosity as to science it has no room for merelypersonal considerations. All day amid that incessant andmysterious menace our two Professors watched every bird upon thewing, and every shrub upon the bank, with many a sharp wordycontention, when the snarl of Summerlee came quick upon the deepgrowl of Challenger, but with no more sense of danger and no morereference to drum-beating Indians than if they were seatedtogether in the smoking-room of the Royal Society's Club in St.James's Street. Once only did they condescend to discuss them.

"No doubt, sir," Summerlee answered. "Like all such tribes, Ishall expect to find them of poly-synthetic speech and ofMongolian type."

"Polysynthetic certainly," said Challenger, indulgently. "I amnot aware that any other type of language exists in this continent,and I have notes of more than a hundred. The Mongolian theoryI regard with deep suspicion."

"I should have thought that even a limited knowledge ofcomparative anatomy would have helped to verify it," saidSummerlee, bitterly.

Challenger thrust out his aggressive chin until he was all beardand hat-rim. "No doubt, sir, a limited knowledge would havethat effect. When one's knowledge is exhaustive, one comes toother conclusions." They glared at each other in mutual defiance,while all round rose the distant whisper, "We will kill you--wewill kill you if we can."

That night we moored our canoes with heavy stones for anchors inthe center of the stream, and made every preparation for apossible attack. Nothing came, however, and with the dawn wepushed upon our way, the drum-beating dying out behind us. About three o'clock in the afternoon we came to a very steep rapid,more than a mile long--the very one in which Professor Challengerhad suffered disaster upon his first journey. I confess that thesight of it consoled me, for it was really the first directcorroboration, slight as it was, of the truth of his story. The Indians carried first our canoes and then our stores throughthe brushwood, which is very thick at this point, while we fourwhites, our rifles on our shoulders, walked between them and anydanger coming from the woods. Before evening we had successfullypassed the rapids, and made our way some ten miles above them,where we anchored for the night. At this point I reckoned thatwe had come not less than a hundred miles up the tributary fromthe main stream.

It was in the early forenoon of the next day that we made thegreat departure. Since dawn Professor Challenger had beenacutely uneasy, continually scanning each bank of the river. Suddenly he gave an exclamation of satisfaction and pointed to asingle tree, which projected at a peculiar angle over the side ofthe stream.

"What do you make of that?" he asked.

"It is surely an Assai palm," said Summerlee.

"Exactly. It was an Assai palm which I took for my landmark. The secret opening is half a mile onwards upon the other side ofthe river. There is no break in the trees. That is the wonderand the mystery of it. There where you see light-green rushesinstead of dark-green undergrowth, there between the great cottonwoods, that is my private gate into the unknown. Push through,and you will understand."

It was indeed a wonderful place. Having reached the spot markedby a line of light-green rushes, we poled out two canoes throughthem for some hundreds of yards, and eventually emerged into aplacid and shallow stream, running clear and transparent over asandy bottom. It may have been twenty yards across, and wasbanked in on each side by most luxuriant vegetation. No one whohad not observed that for a short distance reeds had taken theplace of shrubs, could possibly have guessed the existence ofsuch a stream or dreamed of the fairyland beyond.

For a fairyland it was--the most wonderful that the imaginationof man could conceive. The thick vegetation met overhead,interlacing into a natural pergola, and through this tunnel ofverdure in a golden twilight flowed the green, pellucid river,beautiful in itself, but marvelous from the strange tints thrownby the vivid light from above filtered and tempered in its fall. Clear as crystal, motionless as a sheet of glass, green as theedge of an iceberg, it stretched in front of us under its leafyarchway, every stroke of our paddles sending a thousand ripplesacross its shining surface. It was a fitting avenue to a landof wonders. All sign of the Indians had passed away, but animallife was more frequent, and the tameness of the creatures showedthat they knew nothing of the hunter. Fuzzy little black-velvetmonkeys, with snow-white teeth and gleaming, mocking eyes,chattered at us as we passed. With a dull, heavy splash anoccasional cayman plunged in from the bank. Once a dark, clumsytapir stared at us from a gap in the bushes, and then lumberedaway through the forest; once, too, the yellow, sinuous form of agreat puma whisked amid the brushwood, and its green, balefuleyes glared hatred at us over its tawny shoulder. Bird life wasabundant, especially the wading birds, stork, heron, and ibisgathering in little groups, blue, scarlet, and white, upon everylog which jutted from the bank, while beneath us the crystalwater was alive with fish of every shape and color.

For three days we made our way up this tunnel of hazygreen sunshine. On the longer stretches one could hardlytell as one looked ahead where the distant green water endedand the distant green archway began. The deep peace of thisstrange waterway was unbroken by any sign of man.

"No Indian here. Too much afraid. Curupuri," said Gomez.

"Curupuri is the spirit of the woods," Lord John explained. "It's a name for any kind of devil. The poor beggars think thatthere is something fearsome in this direction, and therefore theyavoid it."

On the third day it became evident that our journey in the canoescould not last much longer, for the stream was rapidly growingmore shallow. Twice in as many hours we stuck upon the bottom. Finally we pulled the boats up among the brushwood and spent thenight on the bank of the river. In the morning Lord John and Imade our way for a couple of miles through the forest, keepingparallel with the stream; but as it grew ever shallower wereturned and reported, what Professor Challenger had alreadysuspected, that we had reached the highest point to which thecanoes could be brought. We drew them up, therefore, andconcealed them among the bushes, blazing a tree with our axes, sothat we should find them again. Then we distributed the variousburdens among us--guns, ammunition, food, a tent, blankets, andthe rest--and, shouldering our packages, we set forth upon themore laborious stage of our journey.

An unfortunate quarrel between our pepper-pots marked the outsetof our new stage. Challenger had from the moment of joining usissued directions to the whole party, much to the evidentdiscontent of Summerlee. Now, upon his assigning some duty tohis fellow-Professor (it was only the carrying of an aneroidbarometer), the matter suddenly came to a head.

"May I ask, sir," said Summerlee, with vicious calm, "in whatcapacity you take it upon yourself to issue these orders?"

Challenger glared and bristled.

"I do it, Professor Summerlee, as leader of this expedition."

"I am compelled to tell you, sir, that I do not recognize you inthat capacity."

"Yes, sir. You are a man whose veracity is upon trial, and thiscommittee is here to try it. You walk, sir, with your judges."

"Dear me!" said Challenger, seating himself on the side of one ofthe canoes. "In that case you will, of course, go on your way,and I will follow at my leisure. If I am not the leader youcannot expect me to lead."

Thank heaven that there were two sane men--Lord John Roxtonand myself--to prevent the petulance and folly of our learnedProfessors from sending us back empty-handed to London. Such arguing and pleading and explaining before we could getthem mollified! Then at last Summerlee, with his sneer and hispipe, would move forwards, and Challenger would come rolling andgrumbling after. By some good fortune we discovered about thistime that both our savants had the very poorest opinion of Dr.Illingworth of Edinburgh. Thenceforward that was our one safety,and every strained situation was relieved by our introducing thename of the Scotch zoologist, when both our Professors would forma temporary alliance and friendship in their detestation andabuse of this common rival.

Advancing in single file along the bank of the stream, we soonfound that it narrowed down to a mere brook, and finally that itlost itself in a great green morass of sponge-like mosses, intowhich we sank up to our knees. The place was horribly hauntedby clouds of mosquitoes and every form of flying pest, so we wereglad to find solid ground again and to make a circuit among thetrees, which enabled us to outflank this pestilent morass, whichdroned like an organ in the distance, so loud was it with insect life.

On the second day after leaving our canoes we found that thewhole character of the country changed. Our road waspersistently upwards, and as we ascended the woods becamethinner and lost their tropical luxuriance. The huge trees ofthe alluvial Amazonian plain gave place to the Phoenix and cocopalms, growing in scattered clumps, with thick brushwood between. In the damper hollows the Mauritia palms threw out their gracefuldrooping fronds. We traveled entirely by compass, and once ortwice there were differences of opinion between Challenger andthe two Indians, when, to quote the Professor's indignant words,the whole party agreed to "trust the fallacious instincts ofundeveloped savages rather than the highest product of modernEuropean culture." That we were justified in doing so was shownupon the third day, when Challenger admitted that he recognizedseveral landmarks of his former journey, and in one spot weactually came upon four fire-blackened stones, which must havemarked a camping-place.

The road still ascended, and we crossed a rock-studded slopewhich took two days to traverse. The vegetation had againchanged, and only the vegetable ivory tree remained, with agreat profusion of wonderful orchids, among which I learned torecognize the rare Nuttonia Vexillaria and the glorious pink andscarlet blossoms of Cattleya and odontoglossum. Occasional brookswith pebbly bottoms and fern-draped banks gurgled down the shallowgorges in the hill, and offered good camping-grounds every eveningon the banks of some rock-studded pool, where swarms of littleblue-backed fish, about the size and shape of English trout,gave us a delicious supper.

On the ninth day after leaving the canoes, having done, as Ireckon, about a hundred and twenty miles, we began to emerge fromthe trees, which had grown smaller until they were mere shrubs. Their place was taken by an immense wilderness of bamboo, whichgrew so thickly that we could only penetrate it by cutting apathway with the machetes and billhooks of the Indians. It tookus a long day, traveling from seven in the morning till eight atnight, with only two breaks of one hour each, to get throughthis obstacle. Anything more monotonous and wearying could not beimagined, for, even at the most open places, I could not see morethan ten or twelve yards, while usually my vision was limited tothe back of Lord John's cotton jacket in front of me, and to theyellow wall within a foot of me on either side. From above cameone thin knife-edge of sunshine, and fifteen feet over our headsone saw the tops of the reeds swaying against the deep blue sky. I do not know what kind of creatures inhabit such a thicket, butseveral times we heard the plunging of large, heavy animals quiteclose to us. From their sounds Lord John judged them to be someform of wild cattle. Just as night fell we cleared the belt ofbamboos, and at once formed our camp, exhausted by theinterminable day.

Early next morning we were again afoot, and found that thecharacter of the country had changed once again. Behind us wasthe wall of bamboo, as definite as if it marked the course ofa river. In front was an open plain, sloping slightly upwardsand dotted with clumps of tree-ferns, the whole curving beforeus until it ended in a long, whale-backed ridge. This we reachedabout midday, only to find a shallow valley beyond, rising onceagain into a gentle incline which led to a low, rounded sky-line. It was here, while we crossed the first of these hills, that anincident occurred which may or may not have been important.

Professor Challenger, who with the two local Indians was in the vanof the party, stopped suddenly and pointed excitedly to the right. As he did so we saw, at the distance of a mile or so, somethingwhich appeared to be a huge gray bird flap slowly up from theground and skim smoothly off, flying very low and straight, untilit was lost among the tree-ferns.

"Did you see it?" cried Challenger, in exultation. "Summerlee, didyou see it?"

His colleague was staring at the spot where the creature had disappeared.

"What do you claim that it was?" he asked.

"To the best of my belief, a pterodactyl."

Summerlee burst into derisive laughter "A pter-fiddlestick!" said he. "It was a stork, if ever I saw one."

Challenger was too furious to speak. He simply swung his packupon his back and continued upon his march. Lord John came abreastof me, however, and his face was more grave than was his wont. He had his Zeiss glasses in his hand.

"I focused it before it got over the trees," said he. "I won'tundertake to say what it was, but I'll risk my reputation as asportsman that it wasn't any bird that ever I clapped eyes on inmy life."

So there the matter stands. Are we really just at the edge ofthe unknown, encountering the outlying pickets of this lost worldof which our leader speaks? I give you the incident as itoccurred and you will know as much as I do. It stands alone, forwe saw nothing more which could be called remarkable.

And now, my readers, if ever I have any, I have brought you upthe broad river, and through the screen of rushes, and down thegreen tunnel, and up the long slope of palm trees, and throughthe bamboo brake, and across the plain of tree-ferns. At lastour destination lay in full sight of us. When we had crossedthe second ridge we saw before us an irregular, palm-studdedplain, and then the line of high red cliffs which I have seenin the picture. There it lies, even as I write, and there canbe no question that it is the same. At the nearest point it isabout seven miles from our present camp, and it curves away,stretching as far as I can see. Challenger struts about likea prize peacock, and Summerlee is silent, but still sceptical. Another day should bring some of our doubts to an end. Meanwhile, as Jose, whose arm was pierced by a broken bamboo,insists upon returning, I send this letter back in his charge,and only hope that it may eventually come to hand. I will writeagain as the occasion serves. I have enclosed with this a roughchart of our journey, which may have the effect of making theaccount rather easier to understand.

CHAPTER IX

"Who could have Foreseen it?"

A dreadful thing has happened to us. Who could have foreseen it? I cannot foresee any end to our troubles. It may be that we arecondemned to spend our whole lives in this strange, inaccessible place. I am still so confused that I can hardly think clearly of the factsof the present or of the chances of the future. To my astoundedsenses the one seems most terrible and the other as black as night.

No men have ever found themselves in a worse position; nor isthere any use in disclosing to you our exact geographicalsituation and asking our friends for a relief party. Even ifthey could send one, our fate will in all human probability bedecided long before it could arrive in South America.

We are, in truth, as far from any human aid as if we were inthe moon. If we are to win through, it is only our own qualitieswhich can save us. I have as companions three remarkable men, menof great brain-power and of unshaken courage. There lies our oneand only hope. It is only when I look upon the untroubled facesof my comrades that I see some glimmer through the darkness. Outwardly I trust that I appear as unconcerned as they. Inwardly Iam filled with apprehension.

Let me give you, with as much detail as I can, the sequence ofevents which have led us to this catastrophe.

When I finished my last letter I stated that we were within sevenmiles from an enormous line of ruddy cliffs, which encircled,beyond all doubt, the plateau of which Professor Challenger spoke. Their height, as we approached them, seemed to me in some placesto be greater than he had stated--running up in parts to at leasta thousand feet--and they were curiously striated, in a mannerwhich is, I believe, characteristic of basaltic upheavals. Something of the sort is to be seen in Salisbury Crags at Edinburgh. The summit showed every sign of a luxuriant vegetation, with bushesnear the edge, and farther back many high trees. There was noindication of any life that we could see.

That night we pitched our camp immediately under the cliff--amost wild and desolate spot. The crags above us were not merelyperpendicular, but curved outwards at the top, so that ascent wasout of the question. Close to us was the high thin pinnacle ofrock which I believe I mentioned earlier in this narrative. It islike a broad red church spire, the top of it being level with theplateau, but a great chasm gaping between. On the summit of itthere grew one high tree. Both pinnacle and cliff werecomparatively low--some five or six hundred feet, I should think.

"It was on that," said Professor Challenger, pointing to thistree, "that the pterodactyl was perched. I climbed half-way upthe rock before I shot him. I am inclined to think that a goodmountaineer like myself could ascend the rock to the top, thoughhe would, of course, be no nearer to the plateau when he had done so."

As Challenger spoke of his pterodactyl I glanced at ProfessorSummerlee, and for the first time I seemed to see some signs of adawning credulity and repentance. There was no sneer upon histhin lips, but, on the contrary, a gray, drawn look of excitementand amazement. Challenger saw it, too, and reveled in the firsttaste of victory.

"Of course," said he, with his clumsy and ponderous sarcasm,"Professor Summerlee will understand that when I speak of apterodactyl I mean a stork--only it is the kind of stork whichhas no feathers, a leathery skin, membranous wings, and teeth inits jaws." He grinned and blinked and bowed until his colleagueturned and walked away.

In the morning, after a frugal breakfast of coffee and manioc--wehad to be economical of our stores--we held a council of war asto the best method of ascending to the plateau above us.

Challenger presided with a solemnity as if he were the Lord ChiefJustice on the Bench. Picture him seated upon a rock, his absurdboyish straw hat tilted on the back of his head, his superciliouseyes dominating us from under his drooping lids, his great blackbeard wagging as he slowly defined our present situation and ourfuture movements.

Beneath him you might have seen the three of us--myself,sunburnt, young, and vigorous after our open-air tramp;Summerlee, solemn but still critical, behind his eternal pipe;Lord John, as keen as a razor-edge, with his supple, alert figureleaning upon his rifle, and his eager eyes fixed eagerly uponthe speaker. Behind us were grouped the two swarthy half-breedsand the little knot of Indians, while in front and above us toweredthose huge, ruddy ribs of rocks which kept us from our goal.

"I need not say," said our leader, "that on the occasion of mylast visit I exhausted every means of climbing the cliff, andwhere I failed I do not think that anyone else is likely tosucceed, for I am something of a mountaineer. I had none of theappliances of a rock-climber with me, but I have taken theprecaution to bring them now. With their aid I am positive Icould climb that detached pinnacle to the summit; but so long asthe main cliff overhangs, it is vain to attempt ascending that. I was hurried upon my last visit by the approach of the rainyseason and by the exhaustion of my supplies. These considerationslimited my time, and I can only claim that I have surveyed aboutsix miles of the cliff to the east of us, finding no possibleway up. What, then, shall we now do?"

"There seems to be only one reasonable course," said Professor Summerlee. "If you have explored the east, we should travel along the base of thecliff to the west, and seek for a practicable point for our ascent."

"That's it," said Lord John. "The odds are that this plateau is ofno great size, and we shall travel round it until we either find aneasy way up it, or come back to the point from which we started."

"I have already explained to our young friend here," saidChallenger (he has a way of alluding to me as if I were a schoolchild ten years old), "that it is quite impossible that thereshould be an easy way up anywhere, for the simple reason that ifthere were the summit would not be isolated, and those conditionswould not obtain which have effected so singular an interferencewith the general laws of survival. Yet I admit that there mayvery well be places where an expert human climber may reach thesummit, and yet a cumbrous and heavy animal be unable to descend. It is certain that there is a point where an ascent is possible."

"How do you know that, sir?" asked Summerlee, sharply.

"Because my predecessor, the American Maple White, actually madesuch an ascent. How otherwise could he have seen the monsterwhich he sketched in his notebook?"

"There you reason somewhat ahead of the proved facts," said thestubborn Summerlee. "I admit your plateau, because I have seenit; but I have not as yet satisfied myself that it contains anyform of life whatever."

"What you admit, sir, or what you do not admit, is really ofinconceivably small importance. I am glad to perceive that theplateau itself has actually obtruded itself upon your intelligence." He glanced up at it, and then, to our amazement, he sprang from hisrock, and, seizing Summerlee by the neck, he tilted his face intothe air. "Now sir!" he shouted, hoarse with excitement. "Do Ihelp you to realize that the plateau contains some animal life?"

I have said that a thick fringe of green overhung the edge of the cliff. Out of this there had emerged a black, glistening object. As it cameslowly forth and overhung the chasm, we saw that it was a very largesnake with a peculiar flat, spade-like head. It wavered and quiveredabove us for a minute, the morning sun gleaming upon its sleek,sinuous coils. Then it slowly drew inwards and disappeared.

Summerlee had been so interested that he had stood unresistingwhile Challenger tilted his head into the air. Now he shook hiscolleague off and came back to his dignity.

"I should be glad, Professor Challenger," said he, "if you couldsee your way to make any remarks which may occur to you withoutseizing me by the chin. Even the appearance of a very ordinaryrock python does not appear to justify such a liberty."

"But there is life upon the plateau all the same," his colleaguereplied in triumph. "And now, having demonstrated this importantconclusion so that it is clear to anyone, however prejudiced orobtuse, I am of opinion that we cannot do better than break upour camp and travel to westward until we find some means of ascent."

The ground at the foot of the cliff was rocky and broken so thatthe going was slow and difficult. Suddenly we came, however,upon something which cheered our hearts. It was the site of anold encampment, with several empty Chicago meat tins, a bottlelabeled "Brandy," a broken tin-opener, and a quantity of othertravelers' debris. A crumpled, disintegrated newspaper revealed itself as the Chicago Democrat, though the date had been obliterated.

"Not mine," said Challenger. "It must be Maple White's."

Lord John had been gazing curiously at a great tree-fern whichovershadowed the encampment. "I say, look at this," said he. "I believe it is meant for a sign-post."

A slip of hard wood had been nailed to the tree in such a way asto point to the westward.

"Most certainly a sign-post," said Challenger. "What else? Finding himself upon a dangerous errand, our pioneer has leftthis sign so that any party which follows him may know the way hehas taken. Perhaps we shall come upon some other indications aswe proceed."

We did indeed, but they were of a terrible and most unexpected nature. Immediately beneath the cliff there grew a considerable patch of highbamboo, like that which we had traversed in our journey. Many ofthese stems were twenty feet high, with sharp, strong tops, so thateven as they stood they made formidable spears. We were passingalong the edge of this cover when my eye was caught by the gleam ofsomething white within it. Thrusting in my head between the stems,I found myself gazing at a fleshless skull. The whole skeleton wasthere, but the skull had detached itself and lay some feet nearer tothe open.

With a few blows from the machetes of our Indians we cleared thespot and were able to study the details of this old tragedy. Only a few shreds of clothes could still be distinguished, butthere were the remains of boots upon the bony feet, and it wasvery clear that the dead man was a European. A gold watch byHudson, of New York, and a chain which held a stylographic pen,lay among the bones. There was also a silver cigarette-case,with "J. C., from A. E. S.," upon the lid. The state of themetal seemed to show that the catastrophe had occurred no greattime before.

"Who can he be?" asked Lord John. "Poor devil! every bone in hisbody seems to be broken."

"And the bamboo grows through his smashed ribs," said Summerlee. "It is a fast-growing plant, but it is surely inconceivable thatthis body could have been here while the canes grew to be twentyfeet in length."

"As to the man's identity," said Professor Challenger, "I have nodoubt whatever upon that point. As I made my way up the riverbefore I reached you at the fazenda I instituted very particularinquiries about Maple White. At Para they knew nothing. Fortunately, I had a definite clew, for there was a particularpicture in his sketch-book which showed him taking lunch with acertain ecclesiastic at Rosario. This priest I was able to find,and though he proved a very argumentative fellow, who took itabsurdly amiss that I should point out to him the corrosiveeffect which modern science must have upon his beliefs, he nonethe less gave me some positive information. Maple White passedRosario four years ago, or two years before I saw his dead body. He was not alone at the time, but there was a friend, an Americannamed James Colver, who remained in the boat and did not meetthis ecclesiastic. I think, therefore, that there can be no doubtthat we are now looking upon the remains of this James Colver."

"Nor," said Lord John, "is there much doubt as to how he methis death. He has fallen or been chucked from the top, and sobeen impaled. How else could he come by his broken bones, andhow could he have been stuck through by these canes with theirpoints so high above our heads?"

A hush came over us as we stood round these shattered remains andrealized the truth of Lord John Roxton's words. The beetlinghead of the cliff projected over the cane-brake. Undoubtedly hehad fallen from above. But had he fallen? Had it been an accident? Or--already ominous and terrible possibilities began to form roundthat unknown land.

We moved off in silence, and continued to coast round the lineof cliffs, which were as even and unbroken as some of thosemonstrous Antarctic ice-fields which I have seen depicted asstretching from horizon to horizon and towering high above themast-heads of the exploring vessel.

In five miles we saw no rift or break. And then suddenly weperceived something which filled us with new hope. In a hollowof the rock, protected from rain, there was drawn a rough arrowin chalk, pointing still to the westwards.

"A box of colored chalks was among the effects I found inhis knapsack. I remember that the white one was worn to a stump."

"That is certainly good evidence," said Summerlee. "We can onlyaccept his guidance and follow on to the westward."

We had proceeded some five more miles when again we saw a whitearrow upon the rocks. It was at a point where the face of thecliff was for the first time split into a narrow cleft. Inside thecleft was a second guidance mark, which pointed right up it withthe tip somewhat elevated, as if the spot indicated were abovethe level of the ground.

It was a solemn place, for the walls were so gigantic and theslit of blue sky so narrow and so obscured by a double fringeof verdure, that only a dim and shadowy light penetrated tothe bottom. We had had no food for many hours, and were veryweary with the stony and irregular journey, but our nerves weretoo strung to allow us to halt. We ordered the camp to be pitched,however, and, leaving the Indians to arrange it, we four, withthe two half-breeds, proceeded up the narrow gorge.

It was not more than forty feet across at the mouth, but itrapidly closed until it ended in an acute angle, too straightand smooth for an ascent. Certainly it was not this which ourpioneer had attempted to indicate. We made our way back--thewhole gorge was not more than a quarter of a mile deep--andthen suddenly the quick eyes of Lord John fell upon what wewere seeking. High up above our heads, amid the dark shadows,there was one circle of deeper gloom. Surely it could only bethe opening of a cave.

The base of the cliff was heaped with loose stones at the spot,and it was not difficult to clamber up. When we reached it, alldoubt was removed. Not only was it an opening into the rock, buton the side of it there was marked once again the sign of the arrow. Here was the point, and this the means by which Maple White and hisill-fated comrade had made their ascent.

We were too excited to return to the camp, but must make ourfirst exploration at once. Lord John had an electric torch inhis knapsack, and this had to serve us as light. He advanced,throwing his little clear circlet of yellow radiance before him,while in single file we followed at his heels.

The cave had evidently been water-worn, the sides being smoothand the floor covered with rounded stones. It was of such a sizethat a single man could just fit through by stooping. For fiftyyards it ran almost straight into the rock, and then it ascendedat an angle of forty-five. Presently this incline became evensteeper, and we found ourselves climbing upon hands and kneesamong loose rubble which slid from beneath us. Suddenly anexclamation broke from Lord Roxton.

"It's blocked!" said he.

Clustering behind him we saw in the yellow field of light a wallof broken basalt which extended to the ceiling.

"The roof has fallen in!"

In vain we dragged out some of the pieces. The only effect wasthat the larger ones became detached and threatened to roll downthe gradient and crush us. It was evident that the obstacle wasfar beyond any efforts which we could make to remove it. The roadby which Maple White had ascended was no longer available.

Too much cast down to speak, we stumbled down the dark tunnel andmade our way back to the camp.

One incident occurred, however, before we left the gorge, whichis of importance in view of what came afterwards.

We had gathered in a little group at the bottom of the chasm,some forty feet beneath the mouth of the cave, when a huge rockrolled suddenly downwards--and shot past us with tremendous force. It was the narrowest escape for one or all of us. We could notourselves see whence the rock had come, but our half-breedservants, who were still at the opening of the cave, said thatit had flown past them, and must therefore have fallen fromthe summit. Looking upwards, we could see no sign of movementabove us amidst the green jungle which topped the cliff. There could be little doubt, however, that the stone was aimedat us, so the incident surely pointed to humanity--and malevolenthumanity--upon the plateau.

We withdrew hurriedly from the chasm, our minds full of this newdevelopment and its bearing upon our plans. The situation wasdifficult enough before, but if the obstructions of Nature wereincreased by the deliberate opposition of man, then our case wasindeed a hopeless one. And yet, as we looked up at thatbeautiful fringe of verdure only a few hundreds of feet aboveour heads, there was not one of us who could conceive the ideaof returning to London until we had explored it to its depths.

On discussing the situation, we determined that our best coursewas to continue to coast round the plateau in the hope of findingsome other means of reaching the top. The line of cliffs, whichhad decreased considerably in height, had already begun to trendfrom west to north, and if we could take this as representing thearc of a circle, the whole circumference could not be very great. At the worst, then, we should be back in a few days at ourstarting-point.

We made a march that day which totaled some two-and-twenty miles,without any change in our prospects. I may mention that ouraneroid shows us that in the continual incline which we haveascended since we abandoned our canoes we have risen to no lessthan three thousand feet above sea-level. Hence there is aconsiderable change both in the temperature and in the vegetation. We have shaken off some of that horrible insect life which isthe bane of tropical travel. A few palms still survive, and manytree-ferns, but the Amazonian trees have been all left behind. It was pleasant to see the convolvulus, the passion-flower, andthe begonia, all reminding me of home, here among theseinhospitable rocks. There was a red begonia just the same coloras one that is kept in a pot in the window of a certain villain Streatham--but I am drifting into private reminiscence.

That night--I am still speaking of the first day of ourcircumnavigation of the plateau--a great experience awaited us,and one which for ever set at rest any doubt which we could havehad as to the wonders so near us.

You will realize as you read it, my dear Mr. McArdle, andpossibly for the first time that the paper has not sent me on awild-goose chase, and that there is inconceivably fine copywaiting for the world whenever we have the Professor's leave tomake use of it. I shall not dare to publish these articlesunless I can bring back my proofs to England, or I shall behailed as the journalistic Munchausen of all time. I have nodoubt that you feel the same way yourself, and that you would notcare to stake the whole credit of the Gazette upon this adventureuntil we can meet the chorus of criticism and scepticism whichsuch articles must of necessity elicit. So this wonderfulincident, which would make such a headline for the old paper,must still wait its turn in the editorial drawer.

And yet it was all over in a flash, and there was no sequel to it,save in our own convictions.

What occurred was this. Lord John had shot an ajouti--which is asmall, pig-like animal--and, half of it having been given to theIndians, we were cooking the other half upon our fire. There isa chill in the air after dark, and we had all drawn close tothe blaze. The night was moonless, but there were some stars,and one could see for a little distance across the plain. Well, suddenly out of the darkness, out of the night, there swoopedsomething with a swish like an aeroplane. The whole group of uswere covered for an instant by a canopy of leathery wings, and Ihad a momentary vision of a long, snake-like neck, a fierce, red,greedy eye, and a great snapping beak, filled, to my amazement,with little, gleaming teeth. The next instant it was gone--andso was our dinner. A huge black shadow, twenty feet across,skimmed up into the air; for an instant the monster wings blottedout the stars, and then it vanished over the brow of the cliffabove us. We all sat in amazed silence round the fire, like theheroes of Virgil when the Harpies came down upon them. It wasSummerlee who was the first to speak.

"Professor Challenger," said he, in a solemn voice, whichquavered with emotion, "I owe you an apology. Sir, I am verymuch in the wrong, and I beg that you will forget what is past."

It was handsomely said, and the two men for the first time shook hands. So much we have gained by this clear vision of our first pterodactyl. It was worth a stolen supper to bring two such men together.

But if prehistoric life existed upon the plateau it was notsuperabundant, for we had no further glimpse of it during thenext three days. During this time we traversed a barren andforbidding country, which alternated between stony desert anddesolate marshes full of many wild-fowl, upon the north andeast of the cliffs. From that direction the place is reallyinaccessible, and, were it not for a hardish ledge which runs atthe very base of the precipice, we should have had to turn back. Many times we were up to our waists in the slime and blubber ofan old, semi-tropical swamp. To make matters worse, the placeseemed to be a favorite breeding-place of the Jaracaca snake, themost venomous and aggressive in South America. Again and againthese horrible creatures came writhing and springing towards usacross the surface of this putrid bog, and it was only by keepingour shot-guns for ever ready that we could feel safe from them. One funnel-shaped depression in the morass, of a livid green incolor from some lichen which festered in it, will always remainas a nightmare memory in my mind. It seems to have been aspecial nest of these vermins, and the slopes were alive withthem, all writhing in our direction, for it is a peculiarityof the Jaracaca that he will always attack man at first sight. There were too many for us to shoot, so we fairly took to ourheels and ran until we were exhausted. I shall always rememberas we looked back how far behind we could see the heads and necksof our horrible pursuers rising and falling amid the reeds. Jaracaca Swamp we named it in the map which we are constructing.

The cliffs upon the farther side had lost their ruddy tint, beingchocolate-brown in color; the vegetation was more scattered alongthe top of them, and they had sunk to three or four hundred feetin height, but in no place did we find any point where they couldbe ascended. If anything, they were more impossible than at thefirst point where we had met them. Their absolute steepness isindicated in the photograph which I took over the stony desert.

"Surely," said I, as we discussed the situation, "the rain mustfind its way down somehow. There are bound to be water-channelsin the rocks."

"Our young friend has glimpses of lucidity," said ProfessorChallenger, patting me upon the shoulder.

"The rain must go somewhere," I repeated.

"He keeps a firm grip upon actuality. The only drawback is thatwe have conclusively proved by ocular demonstration that thereare no water channels down the rocks."

"Where, then, does it go?" I persisted.

"I think it may be fairly assumed that if it does not comeoutwards it must run inwards."

"Then there is a lake in the center."

"So I should suppose."

"It is more than likely that the lake may be an old crater,"said Summerlee. "The whole formation is, of course, highly volcanic. But, however that may be, I should expect to find the surface of theplateau slope inwards with a considerable sheet of water in the center,which may drain off, by some subterranean channel, into the marshesof the Jaracaca Swamp."

"Or evaporation might preserve an equilibrium," remarkedChallenger, and the two learned men wandered off into one oftheir usual scientific arguments, which were as comprehensible asChinese to the layman.

On the sixth day we completed our first circuit of the cliffs,and found ourselves back at the first camp, beside the isolatedpinnacle of rock. We were a disconsolate party, for nothingcould have been more minute than our investigation, and it wasabsolutely certain that there was no single point where the mostactive human being could possibly hope to scale the cliff. The place which Maple White's chalk-marks had indicated as hisown means of access was now entirely impassable.

What were we to do now? Our stores of provisions, supplemented byour guns, were holding out well, but the day must come when theywould need replenishment. In a couple of months the rains mightbe expected, and we should be washed out of our camp. The rockwas harder than marble, and any attempt at cutting a path for sogreat a height was more than our time or resources would admit. No wonder that we looked gloomily at each other that night, andsought our blankets with hardly a word exchanged. I rememberthat as I dropped off to sleep my last recollection was thatChallenger was squatting, like a monstrous bull-frog, by the fire,his huge head in his hands, sunk apparently in the deepest thought,and entirely oblivious to the good-night which I wished him.

But it was a very different Challenger who greeted us in themorning--a Challenger with contentment and self-congratulationshining from his whole person. He faced us as we assembled forbreakfast with a deprecating false modesty in his eyes, as whoshould say, "I know that I deserve all that you can say, but Ipray you to spare my blushes by not saying it." His beardbristled exultantly, his chest was thrown out, and his hand wasthrust into the front of his jacket. So, in his fancy, may hesee himself sometimes, gracing the vacant pedestal in TrafalgarSquare, and adding one more to the horrors of the London streets.

"Eureka!" he cried, his teeth shining through his beard. "Gentlemen, you may congratulate me and we may congratulateeach other. The problem is solved."

"You have found a way up?"

"I venture to think so."

"And where?"

For answer he pointed to the spire-like pinnacle upon our right.

Our faces--or mine, at least--fell as we surveyed it. That itcould be climbed we had our companion's assurance. But a horribleabyss lay between it and the plateau.

"We can never get across," I gasped.

"We can at least all reach the summit," said he. "When we are upI may be able to show you that the resources of an inventive mindare not yet exhausted."

After breakfast we unpacked the bundle in which our leader hadbrought his climbing accessories. From it he took a coil of thestrongest and lightest rope, a hundred and fifty feet in length,with climbing irons, clamps, and other devices. Lord John wasan experienced mountaineer, and Summerlee had done some roughclimbing at various times, so that I was really the novice atrock-work of the party; but my strength and activity may havemade up for my want of experience.

It was not in reality a very stiff task, though there weremoments which made my hair bristle upon my head. The first halfwas perfectly easy, but from there upwards it became continuallysteeper until, for the last fifty feet, we were literallyclinging with our fingers and toes to tiny ledges and crevices inthe rock. I could not have accomplished it, nor could Summerlee,if Challenger had not gained the summit (it was extraordinary tosee such activity in so unwieldy a creature) and there fixed therope round the trunk of the considerable tree which grew there. With this as our support, we were soon able to scramble up thejagged wall until we found ourselves upon the small grassyplatform, some twenty-five feet each way, which formed the summit.

The first impression which I received when I had recovered mybreath was of the extraordinary view over the country which wehad traversed. The whole Brazilian plain seemed to lie beneathus, extending away and away until it ended in dim blue mists uponthe farthest sky-line. In the foreground was the long slope,strewn with rocks and dotted with tree-ferns; farther off in themiddle distance, looking over the saddle-back hill, I could justsee the yellow and green mass of bamboos through which we hadpassed; and then, gradually, the vegetation increased until itformed the huge forest which extended as far as the eyes couldreach, and for a good two thousand miles beyond.

I was still drinking in this wonderful panorama when the heavyhand of the Professor fell upon my shoulder.

The level of the plateau, when I turned, was exactly that onwhich we stood, and the green bank of bushes, with occasionaltrees, was so near that it was difficult to realize howinaccessible it remained. At a rough guess the gulf was fortyfeet across, but, so far as I could see, it might as well havebeen forty miles. I placed one arm round the trunk of the treeand leaned over the abyss. Far down were the small dark figuresof our servants, looking up at us. The wall was absolutelyprecipitous, as was that which faced me.

"This is indeed curious," said the creaking voice of Professor Summerlee.

I turned, and found that he was examining with great interest thetree to which I clung. That smooth bark and those small, ribbedleaves seemed familiar to my eyes. "Why," I cried, "it's a beech!"

"Exactly," said Summerlee. "A fellow-countryman in a far land."

"Not only a fellow-countryman, my good sir," said Challenger,"but also, if I may be allowed to enlarge your simile, an ally ofthe first value. This beech tree will be our saviour."

"By George!" cried Lord John, "a bridge!"

"Exactly, my friends, a bridge! It is not for nothing thatI expended an hour last night in focusing my mind uponthe situation. I have some recollection of once remarkingto our young friend here that G. E. C. is at his best whenhis back is to the wall. Last night you will admit that allour backs were to the wall. But where will-power and intellectgo together, there is always a way out. A drawbridge had to befound which could be dropped across the abyss. Behold it!"

It was certainly a brilliant idea. The tree was a good sixtyfeet in height, and if it only fell the right way it would easilycross the chasm. Challenger had slung the camp axe over hisshoulder when he ascended. Now he handed it to me.

"Our young friend has the thews and sinews," said he. "I thinkhe will be the most useful at this task. I must beg, however,that you will kindly refrain from thinking for yourself, and thatyou will do exactly what you are told."

Under his direction I cut such gashes in the sides of the treesas would ensure that it should fall as we desired. It hadalready a strong, natural tilt in the direction of the plateau,so that the matter was not difficult. Finally I set to work inearnest upon the trunk, taking turn and turn with Lord John. In a little over an hour there was a loud crack, the tree swayedforward, and then crashed over, burying its branches among thebushes on the farther side. The severed trunk rolled to the veryedge of our platform, and for one terrible second we all thoughtit was over. It balanced itself, however, a few inches from theedge, and there was our bridge to the unknown.

All of us, without a word, shook hands with Professor Challenger,who raised his straw hat and bowed deeply to each in turn.

"I claim the honor," said he, "to be the first to cross to theunknown land--a fitting subject, no doubt, for some futurehistorical painting."